Marc & Craig Kielburger

Authors and Co-Founders of Free The Children
Toronto, Ontario

What are Marc and Craig Passionate About

Me to We: How One Person Can Make a World of Difference

We all have the power to change the world. And Craig and Marc can show you how.

Their personal stories have inspired millions of people.

A powerful experience for people of all ages, this speech introduces the remarkable story of how Craig and Marc founded Free The Children, which has grown into an international humanitarian organization active in eight developing countries.

When Craig was just 12, outrage over the death of a former child slave of the same age led him to travel to South Asia to see the shocking conditions that young laborers endure.

Craig’s older brother, Marc, turned his back on a career in politics or law, to spend a year teaching English and caring for AIDS patients in the slums of Bangkok, then used his Oxford University law degree to empower young people around the world.

Over the past 18 years, these brothers have built a small charity that began in their garage into an organization that engages millions of young people. When they met Oprah Winfrey she was so moved by their mission she committed to building 100 schools, and Free The Children partnered with Oprah’s Angel Network. During their journey, they have learned from the mentorship of people such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and so many others.

Craig and Marc will help you unlock our own passions and unique gifts to make a difference.

They will help you answer profound and urgent questions:

– How do you find purpose in today’s world?

– How can you leave a legacy while balancing the challenges of modern life?

– How do you take the first steps to making lasting change?

You will also discover the Me to We philosophy, developed by Marc and Craig through more than a decade of humanitarian work and described in their New York Times bestseller Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World.

Audiences, too, will learn how to use the Me to We philosophy to create their own unique path that will leave a positive mark on the world.

The World Needs Your Kid: How to Raise Kids Who Care and Contribute

(A must for parents & educators)

Through Craig and Marc Kielburger’s work with Free The Children — the world’s largest youth-driven charity — they have empowered 1.7 million extraordinary young people.

Their We Day empowerment event is attended annually by 100,000 students from 3000 schools, who earn their entry through service. It is also one of the largest Facebook causes in the world, with 2.4 million followers.

All these young people want to make a difference. They are looking for a place to begin.

That’s where parents and educators come in.

There is no greater privilege and no more important responsibility in life than to raise the next generation. It’s the job of parents and educators to shine the light and guide the way.

In this inspiring speech, Craig and Marc draw stories from their own extraordinary upbringings and from the wisdom of their parents, who were teachers. Their parents let them take risks, fail, choose a different path, and find their own unique voices. Craig and Marc also draw on teachings from leading experts on compassion, empathy, mentoring, service learning, citizenship and achievement.

Based on the national bestseller The World Needs Your Kid: Raising Children who Care and Contribute, this address delves into everything you need to know about raising and mentoring kids to be active, engaged citizens.

– Learn how to help your children realize their own special gifts and passions.

– Learn how small, everyday actions can have a lasting influence on a child’s life—resulting in new friendships, improved grades and higher self-esteem.

– Learn how to introduce effective service-learning programs into schools.

The world needs your kids. Craig and Marc will help you be their guide, mentor and inspiration.

More than MBA = BMW: What For-Profit Companies can learn from High Performing Social Enterprises, and Non-Profits.

(Thought-provoking and informative for Business leaders and their teams)

Craig and Marc Kielburger, founders of Me to We, are pioneering social entrepreneurs who have shown that you can make good — and make money.

Marc, with a law degree from Oxford University, and Craig, the youngest-ever graduate from the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program, are leading a revolution in business.

They are the founders of Me to We, a social enterprise that measures the bottom line by the number of lives changed and the positive social and environmental impact it makes.

Me to We partners with the world’s leading companies such as KPMG and Virgin Atlantic to build robust corporate citizenship programs to engage employees and clients. Me to We provides socially-responsible products and experiences for hundreds of thousands of consumers every year, including international volunteer travel programs, a sweatshop-free clothing line, internationally-acclaimed jewelry and accessories providing economic empowerment to women in developing countries, a publishing house, and inspirational speakers service.

A new generation of business leaders increasingly wants to make an impact beyond the bottom line.

In this speech Craig and Marc will show:

– How they built one of the largest social media followings in the world with 2.4 million Facebook followers. And how your company can leverage social media.

– How to attract and retain some of the best talent in the marketplace, especially the millennial generation of employees who are looking for meaning and a paycheck.

– How to differentiate your product to highlight and celebrate its social values and to reach the rapidly-growing socially-conscious market.

They will also share six simple teachings while running the non-profit Free The Children that will help for-profits improve their work places and their bottom lines: Trust, Empathy, Community, Gratitude, Celebration and Legacy.

Why You Need Marc and Craig

Marc and Craig Kielburger are two of the world’s leading experts on empowering people, social change, and social entrepreneurship.

Their soaring and inspirational speeches transform lives, communities and companies.

Hear how these brothers founded Free The Children, the world’s leading youth-driven charity.

Learn why they launched Me to We, a pioneering social enterprise that provides environmentally-friendly and socially conscious products and services, while also helping Free The Children achieve financial sustainability.

Craig and Marc —

– Are New York Times best-selling authors

– Have been profiled in the New York Times, Washington Post, Time magazine, The Economist and many more influential publications.

– Have been featured with multiple appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, 60 Minutes, The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Colbert Report and many more national and international media outlets.

– Have shared the stage with former President Bill Clinton, Al Gore, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, KofiAnnan and other world leaders, celebrities and dignitaries.

– Have addressed audiences at the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, Global Young Leaders Conference, Young Presidents’ Organizations, World Presidents’ Organizations and others.

– Craig and Marc have pushed the boundaries of charity, philanthropy, social justice and creating change.

Marc Kielburger

Marc Kielburger is a social entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author, and renowned agent of change. He is co-founder of Free The Children, an international charity and educational partner that empowers youth to achieve their fullest potential as agents of change.

Free The Children delivers innovative programming to more than 4,000 youth groups and hundreds of thousands of young people in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. As the world’s largest youth-drive charity, the organization works in eight developing countries and built more than 650 schools and school rooms in developing regions, providing education to more than 55,000 children every day.

Marc is also the co-founder and co-CEO of Me to We. An innovative social enterprise, Me to We provides people with better choices for a better world, including socially conscious and environmentally friendly clothes and accessories, as well as life-changing international volunteer trips, leadership training programs and materials, and books that address issues of positive social change. In addition, half of Me to We’s net profit is donated to Free The Children, while the other half is reinvested to grow the enterprise and its social mission.

Every year, Marc and Craig organize We Day, Free The Children’s signature domestic event that reaches 100,000 students from 3,000 schools in person and more than 5.4 million through televised broadcasts. We Day has more than 2.3 million followers on Facebook, making it one of the largest charitable causes in the world.

Marc is author of nine books. He has shared the stage, and his voice, with Nobel Peace laureates, heads of state, celebrities, rock bands, actors and pop icons, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Former President Bill Clinton, Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sir Richard Branson and many more.

Craig Kielburger

Craig Kielburger is a social entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author, and renowned agent of change.

He co-founded Free The Children in 1995 when he was 12-years-old. Today, more than 1.7 million young people involved in its programs. In North America, the organization provides comprehensive service-learning programs, including its We Day celebrations attended annually by more than 100,000 students from 3,000 participating schools. Internationally, the organization works in eight developing countries providing a holistic and sustainable development model, including education, health care, food security, clean water, and alternative income programs. Its programs have empowered more than one million beneficiaries.

Craig is also the co-founder with his brother of Me to We, an innovative social enterprise that seeks to support the work of Free The Children by providing socially conscious products and experiences. Craig is the author of ten books. He has 13 honorary doctorates and degrees, and has received The Order of Canada, The Roosevelt Freedom Medal, and the World Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child. His work has been featured in multiple appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and 60 Minutes, as well in as National Geographic, TIME, and The Economist.

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Why You Will Love Marc and Craig

“To date, Craig has shared his moving and educational messages to our clients, field sales groups and employees on numerous separate occasions. Each time, Craig greatly exceeds our expectations and seldom have our events created the level of positive feedback and excitement that we have seen with these events. Perhaps, more importantly, at every event Craig has made himself available to spend time with each audience member who desired to speak to him after each presentation.”

Neil TaylorVice President, Marketing, Investors Group

“Everyone at our company raved about Marc for days. Those that couldn’t attend the speech knew that they had missed something really special. He has such a gift for storytelling! Not only was his presentation emotional and informative, but also very entertaining. His engaging style had us all sitting quietly and listening intently for the whole time – something that rarely happens with our high-energy group. We also appreciated how Marc customized his presentation for our team. Many will take his points and work with our clients to ensure they are doing all they can to fulfill their corporate social responsibility.”

Lori SteinerGroup Account Director, Rapp Collins

“Craig and Marc were able to inspire young and old alike through their powerful stories, cutting-edge ideas and practical tips to help create personal and organizational change. They are the best and most passionate speakers I have ever heard.”

Jeff DeanFellow, Google

“I have hosted Craig for special events at two separate occasions and he has in both cases been enormously successful, not just in educating, exciting and entertaining a group, but much more uniquely in inspiring a group to action. One of the audiences was the San Diego Chapter of YPO [Young Presidents’ Organization], and this particularly discerning group rated Craig and his team our strongest event in the entire year.”

Michael StoneYoung Presidents’ Organization, San Diego

“At a meeting for the Teachers Federation of Ontario I was surprised when they introduced a replacement for Craig Kielburger to be a guest presenter. It was his brother Marc. It took Marc only moments to have his audience of over 500 Educators enthralled with his words. His ability to transmit his enthusiasm for his beliefs with such passion touched me and my colleagues deeply.”

Al DuffySecretary Treasurer, O.T. OSSTF District 10

“Our guests were so enamored by Craig. His energy was contagious. Everyone loved his comments…and thought he was one of our finest speakers to date. He held everyone’s attention and had a GREAT personal way about him—great personal touches. He spoke to everyone with the right message. He spoke most appropriately to the setting…and our donors, board members, and volunteers were very impressed. We were all impressed too. So glad we were lucky enough to secure Craig as our speaker this year.”

“Craig, the commitment, the passion, the love that you all project and share is contagious and inspiring. I know that because of your speech, our wonderful students will go on to continue to make a difference in the world with this additional inspiration and spirit. Thank you.”

Patricia M. ThayerCornell University

“Marc and Craig have individually and together spoken at many of our events, including multi-city speaking tours with former president Bill Clinton, Dr. Phil and Anthony Robbins. Most venue sizes are 4000+ people with audiences comprised of entrepreneurs, business managers, human resource professionals and senior sales associates. Their message is very powerful for a business audience and they bring a refreshing authenticity to any event. We only work with the very best speakers in the world and they are consistently ranked amongst our top-rated speakers.”

David SerstaVice President, New Business Development, Power Within Inc.